Ahoy mateys and welcome to the Game Buoy podcast, your twice monthly port of call for gaming news and views that may not be on your radar, but definitely should be! On this super-sized episode, recorded on Saturday, December 29-Sunday, December 30, 2012, Captain Spike and Slagkick celebrate Mega Man‘s 25th anniversary and take one last look at 2012 in gaming.

Captain Spike and Slagkick celebrate the Blue Bomber’s 25th anniversary by looking back at the series and particularly how various iterations brought new ideas and concepts to the franchise and to platform gaming in general. Particular focus is given to Mega Man, Mega Man 2, Mega Man 3, Mega Man 4, Mega Man X, Mega Man 9, and Mega Man 10. The Podcast Pirates also discuss Street Fighter X Mega Man and its shortcomings, but also how its success could shape the future of the franchise. Also, Captain Spike gives a rundown of the rest of this prolific series, giving his recommendations for games to play and games to avoid. Finally, the Podcast Pirates look at the current state of the franchise and what the future might hold for our favorite robot.

Discussion Topic #2 – 2012 Year in Review Redux

Captain Spike discusses a few games that he either missed in 2012 or were recommended as game of the year candidates – Journey, The Walking Dead, Unit 13, and Paper Mario: Sticker Star – and why Asura’s Wrath is his Game of the Year. First Mate Slagkick briefly shares his experience with Boost Mode in New Super Mario Bros. U (a Game Buoy top game of 2012), but his main focus is on why he caved in and bought a new PS3 – with particular attention given to Journey and how it is the pinnacle of Thatgamecompany’s mission statement, why it’s his Game of the Year, and the intense emotional experience connected with the gameplay.

READ OF THE WEEK

Each week, Captain Spike and Slagkick look at one article (or sometimes, more than one) and tell you whether it’s well-written (Read!) or an embarrassment to gaming journalism (Reeeeeeead.) This week, Game Buoy offers a trio of Kotaku articles:

Kotaku is disappointed that BioShock Infinite has typical dudebro cover art, and insists upon itself that this is a terrible thing that actually matters. (Game Buoy enourages you to instead check out The PA Report’s article on why it doesn’t actually matter, which is a definite “Read!”)

Kotaku feels entitled to a stateside release of the extremely successful Bravely Default Flying Fairy and complains about no localization announcement, despite only having been out in Japan for a few months. Instead of taking a positive approach, they choose to be Negative Nancies.

Despite the overly serious headline, this is a great look inside the offices of XSEED, with some anecdotes and analysis into their business model. Very well-written and actually relevant, since The Last Story was such a huge success over here. Obviously, Game Buoy is also in support of positive press for XSEED so this article is definitely recommended.